The night-blooming Cereus figures among the most beautiful cacti that bloom for only a couple of nights every year around June or July. After sunset, the flower slowly unfurls its waxy petals and infuses the air with its fragrance. It lasts only a few hours, closing with the first rays of the morning sun. The flower grows from a large tuber which is valued for its nutritious content.
The white blossom is native to the Sonoran Desert in North America.
Cereus is a fleshy, creeping, rooting shrub found growing in a well-drained soil rich in organic matter. It has tuberous, turnip-like root usually weighing 5 to 15 pounds. Stem is green to bluish green, becoming purplish along ribs, to several m, 1-2.5 cm diam.; ribs 5-8, low; areoles usually 1-2 cm apart along ribs, 1-2 mm diam. The plant consists of spines that are deciduous, 6-18 per areole, whitish to brownish, ± bristle like or short acicular, 4.5-12(-15) mm, intermixed with long, whitish hairs; radial and central spines not distinguishable.
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